Wiring Moron

I seem to latch on to the stuff I can actually see with my eyes, such as clutches and brakes and bearings and carbureturs, but when it comes to
the electrical stuff, I'm at such a total loss. Those that know this area claim it's all quite simple. blah, blah, blah..... OK so today I finally got a break in the afternoon and went to napa and got an electrical, not mechanical oil pressure gauge for my diesel fridge. I have the red light hooked up, but for an unknown reason, I just have to make myself crazy watching the OP rise and fall with each hill and hot idle.... Sooo, right next to where I put the OP gauge, I have a voltmeter, same type... aftermarket 2 1/16 style to keep watch on my gm one wire. The OP gauge instructions said hook the 'S' terminal to the sender, which I just bought and installed and yes, (also VDO). Now, for the switched ( Positive) wire I jumped over to the before mentioned voltmeter. I checked and the terminal I hooked to was hot when the key was on. The voltmeter has always worked flawlessly... But when I started up the truck, the volt meter no longer worked and neither did the new OP gauge... Was the switched hot terminal on the voltmeter a bad choice for a switched hot lead to the OP gauge? I tried the new OP gauge with a hot wire from the bat and nothing, ok it goes to zero not just below it when I turn the key. With the OP gauge disconnected the voltmeter is still non functional. I hate to bore you all with a long winded post, but while trying to add a gauge, now I've spent 70.00 for the OP gauge and sender and now the 32.00 voltmeter AND the OP gauge seem to be junk. WQhy oh why can't I be like the people that say "if it aint broke, dont fix it"........ Any Ideas about my gauges?

I decided to hijack GB's (wiring moron) thread.
Lets just say that wiring is a little mystical for me too.
I went the easy direction and the added expense of a store bought wiring kit for this mark viii 4.6 engine and trans, because its like paint/wire by numbers
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I spent the last two days pulling and routing wires from one end of this truck to the other. And still have not touched any of the real wiring (lights, gauges, Accessories) That panel just runs the engine and trans. well ok backup lights too.
Now when i got done today I was feeling pretty good about it, THEN I read GB's
thread now i'm going to worry about it till I get it fired up.
THANKS Gary

__________________
For Ford the third time was the charm
Third generation Ford truck 57-60
1959 F250 4x4
Wally

You're WELCOME. And BTW, that cab looks like the freakin space shuttle! Beautifully done. So now its 3:20 am and I was laying awake worrying about work commitments that will be tough to make and my 18 year old son who's giving me fits, and a bid that I gave a contractor that was way too low, and well, the usual. Now I'm having a cup of herbal tea, which usually soothes me back to sleep and I was thinking also about what went wrong with the gauges. I screwed the under dash bracket for the OP gauge on with hex head self drilling screws for metal roofing(sorry). Well the tip may have been contacting the switched hot wire that connected the two gauges. When I hit the key, a dead short?? and it wasn't fused til past the gauges where it went on to the backup lights. After the gauges didn't work, I pulled and checked all the wires, possibly disturbing the original short. I had the little misses pick up a new voltmeter at napa on her way home from work, so I'll retry that in the morning. I think I'll stay with the OP idiot light for now. I didn't mention to her that I'd just fried a couple an hour before. Oh, and Teddy sorry about mentioning the backup lights were tied into this mess....... OK, back to bed

Gary, I am glad you found you trouble. Little things like that can pester for awhile. Self tapers with fine threads can be okay but loosen up after being ran in and out more than once. Even on Weasel engines!

Ted, that back plane on you wiring block is a good idea. Should help keep things much more stable. It looks great.

Spur, I THINK I discovered what the problem was.... After breakfast I'll excuse myself and go down to the shop, maybe for the whole day! Lots to do before I reinstall the front clip. And Ted, I've been a dad for 31 years and self employed about the same amount of time. Of the 4 kids sitting in the '38 in my current avatar, the three oldest have graduated from 4 years of college, paying for most of it themselves, and the little blonde guy on the spare tire dropped out of high school in his junior year. Seems worrying is my lot in life. I'm pretty good at it, thanks for relating.

Gary, even if you don't find the trouble today, you get to hang in the garage! It's all good.

Hang in there with the 18 yr.old. In a few fleeting days he will be 28 and on his way to maturity! Just try to be as consistant as you can Bro!

I am in the garage off and on today. One of my girls is up from Tenn. with the two year old little girl so priorities are changing moment to moment.! Just came in for lunch and she is going down for a nap. Sounds like a great idea!!

Kid; I bought it from this outfit Welcome to The Detail Zone about a year ago and I think with them reflashing the ECM and all it was about 1000$
I have seen where other members here have dissected and reused the original wire harness, and I started down that road. Purchased the electrical and maintenance manuals for the Mark VIII. However with my lack of patience and color blindness that didn't happen. This system labels and numbers all wires every 6 inches or so. Making it easier for me to trace wires.
One of the benefits with this system is you can do all the code reading just like factory. they will also flash out portions of system (EGR ) so the system is not running in a wounded mode, if you eliminate those portions of the system.

__________________
For Ford the third time was the charm
Third generation Ford truck 57-60
1959 F250 4x4
Wally

Well, I didn't get to spend the whole day in the shop, but about 4 hours was good. Got the new voltmeter in and it worked fine, then I messed with the OP gauge and found I never had put a ground wire from the back terminal to a ground. The directions showed two different hookups, one with a floating ground and one with a regular ground. Directions said you dont have to run a ground wire with the 'regular' ground, which I determined mine was. Problem was, those were the directions for the sender, which was sold separately. It didnt need a separate ground wire but the gauge did. At least now I know what my oil pressure is. So then I adjusted the valve lash. So easy without the front clip. Next, some turbo work, then it's ON with the front clip, well after I modify it for the '77 f250 390 cu in radiator. I think my next truck will be 'stock'. ( Spur, I know what yer thinkin')......

Oh, and now that I have my better reading glasses on, I see the wayward son is sitting on the side rack of the truck, and Wally, I noticed in another thread that it's your TRUCK that's named Theodore, and you're Wally. I hope I have that right now.

Well, I didn't get to spend the whole day in the shop, but about 4 hours was good. Got the new voltmeter in and it worked fine, then I messed with the OP gauge and found I never had put a ground wire from the back terminal to a ground. The directions showed two different hookups, one with a floating ground and one with a regular ground. Directions said you dont have to run a ground wire with the 'regular' ground, which I determined mine was. Problem was, those were the directions for the sender, which was sold separately. It didnt need a separate ground wire but the gauge did. At least now I know what my oil pressure is. So then I adjusted the valve lash. So easy without the front clip. Next, some turbo work, then it's ON with the front clip, well after I modify it for the '77 f250 390 cu in radiator. I think my next truck will be 'stock'. ( Spur, I know what yer thinkin')......

Uh, GB... 390's weren't put in the the f-series trucks after the 1976 model year unless it was swapped in that truck that you pulled the radiator from. You can look it up or ask numberdummy yourself. Just sharing some information with you. If I came off as mean... I'm sorry.

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